A 10-Gbps Continuous-Time Linear Equalizer for mm-Wave Dielectric Waveguide Communication

The data rate-times-distance product in mm-wave dielectric waveguide (DWG) communication links is usually limited by waveguide dispersion. This letter presents the DWG's baseband impulse response in the context of a homodyne receiver and introduces a continuous-time linear equalizer able to minimize such dispersion. The desired transfer function is implemented with inverter-based transconductance cells. The simulation and measurement results at 10-Gbps data rate show eye-opening improvement at two distances (10 and 15 m) and carrier frequencies (140 and 160 GHz). The equalizer occupies 80 × 32 μm
²
in GLOBALFOUNDRIES 22-nm FD-SOI.